* As CBN sells $400m to BDCs
The Naira recovered against the American dollar at the official window on Friday.
Data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) showed that the local currency gained N46 to trade N1, 593/$1, down from N1, 639/$ recorded at the official window the previous day.
The intra-day high and low recorded during the day were N1, 665/$1 and N1, 580/$1 respectively, representing a very lean spread of N85/$1.
The Naira gained N15 against the dollar at the parallel section of the forex market to trade N1, 675/$1 as against the previous N1, 660/$1.
The Naira also shed N20 against the British Pound to trade N2,200/£1 as against the previous day’s N2,180/£1.
The Canadian dollar closed flat against the naira to trade N1, 250/CA$1.
The Naira also lost N40 against the Euro to trade N1,820/€1 as against N1,780/€1 traded on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria has announced the sale of dollars to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
This was disclosed by the apex bank in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Trade and Exchange Department, Dr W. J Kanya, on Friday.
The latest intervention of the CBN comes as the Naira has been taking a beating at both the official and parallel markets.
The circular partly read: “This is to inform the Bureau De Change Operators and the general public that we are providing more liquidity into the market.
“To this end, the CBN has approved the sale of US$20,000.00 to each eligible BDC at the rate of N1,580/$. This is to meet the demand for invisible transactions.”
The bank said the BDCs are allowed to sell to eligible end-users at a margin not more than one per cent above the purchase rate from CBN.
Eligible BDCs interested in this transaction were advised to make the Naira payment to the CBN.
